1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer systems, and more particularly relates to capturing information from a broadcast signal for later use of the information in a computer system to locate resources in a network.
2. Description of Related Art
In real-time broadcast media that present transitory information, such as television, references to other information or media have become commonplace. For example, television advertisers often include contact information such as a business address or telephone number in a television advertisement so that viewers of the advertisement can locate the business after the advertisement has disappeared from the screen.
As another example, due in part to the explosive growth of the globally accessible computer network known as the Internet, it has become commonplace for advertisers and other users of broadcast media to include an Internet address in broadcast advertisements.
One popular technology enjoying wide use with the Internet is known as the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web enables a computer to locate a remote server using a server name in an agreed-upon format that is indexed at a central Domain Name Server (DNS); the computer can then retrieve information using a communication protocol called the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) uniquely identifies each page of information stored on the remote server. A URL is a form of network address that identifies the location of information stored in a network. The pages of information are files prepared in the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
As use of the World Wide Web has soared, advertisers have also begun to include URLs in broadcast advertisements so that users often see URLs while they are watching television or other broadcasts. The URLs typically identify a Web server or pages on a Web server that contain information about the products that are advertised. For example, a URL may be listed in a commercial or it may be shown on the screen as part of a show. Typically this is done in news broadcasts or documentaries, though many entertainment shows also have websites that are listed at some time during the broadcast.
However, it is typically difficult for a person exposed to a broadcast or advertisement to make a note of the URL for later use. The URL generally appears in the broadcast advertisement only for a brief moment, for example, in the form of a spoken series of words in a radio advertisement, or a text string flashed on a television screen at the conclusion of a TV ad. Also, some URLs are quite long and need to be spelled with 100% accuracy to be useful. They include unusual typed characters such as colons, slashes and xe2x80x9cxcx9cxe2x80x9d characters. These characters and other parts of the URL must be remembered and reproduced correctly, or the URL cannot be used successfully to retrieve a Web page.
In addition, even if the person exposed to the advertisement successfully records a URL, for example, by writing it down, it must be manually keyed into a computer system in order to access the associated Web page. Also, not all URLs have any secondary or mnemonic meaning; therefore, if any significant time delay passes between recordation of the URL by the person and use of the URL, the person may forget what advertiser or product the URL is associated with.
For all these reasons, there is a need for methods, apparatus and products that can retrieve information from a broadcast signal in an automated way.
In particular, there is a need for methods, apparatus, and products that enable a person exposed to the broadcast signal to retrieve information referenced in the broadcast signal conveniently and without error.
There also is a need for methods, apparatus, and products that enable a person to store the information that is retrieved in association with information about the broadcast signal.
There is also a need for a way to identify a network address from within a broadcast signal and store the network address in association with an image from the broadcast signal.
The invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer program product for capturing information from a video signal. In one approach, a method comprises the steps of storing an image from the video signal; identifying a network address contained in the image; and storing the network address for later retrieval. In one aspect, the network address is stored with a copy of the image. In another, the network address is used to access information stored in a network at the network address.
In another aspect, a method includes the steps of converting an image into a first image file; identifying a text item in the first image file; parsing the text item into a network address; and storing the network address with information identifying the video signal. In an alternate embodiment, the invention includes the steps of sending the image to a frame grabber, and converting the image file using the frame grabber. Another feature of the invention is sending the first image file to an optical character recognition (OCR) processor, and identifying a text item in the first image file using the OCR processor.
In another aspect, the invention includes the step of parsing the text file into at least one URL. In yet another aspect, the invention includes the step of checking whether a string of characters is a valid URL. The checking step is carried out by connecting to a computer network; requesting information from a location in the computer network that is identified by the string; and testing whether the step of requesting information is successful.
The invention also encompasses a computer system and a computer software product configured with the foregoing features and aspects.